Brighton FPL Gameweek 27: Popular Pedro back in the points

FPL Gameweek 26 saw Brighton pick up 4-0 victory at Southampton in which previously popular FPL pick Joao Pedro rewarded all those managers who stuck by him through a barren spell by scoring one and assisting another.

It was the second comprehensive victory in a row for the Albion having seen off Chelsea 3-0 at the Amex eight days earlier.

And it could have been a lot more. Brighton accumulated a huge 12 shots on target and 10 big chances at St Mary’s.

Yankubu Minteh (£5.0 million) and Carlos Baleba (£5.0 million) in particular must have left Southampton wondering how they had not scored after missing an open goal from 10 yards and hitting the post respectively.

Victory meant the Seagulls ended the weekend ninth in the Premier League table and back in the race for European qualification.

Gameweek 27 sees Bournemouth visit the Amex in a match which could have huge consequences for both sides hopes of a top seven finish.

Taking all this into account, here are a couple of interesting Brighton players for FPL managers to be consider.

Joao Pedro (£5.4 million)

Pedro has been the most heavily featured player in our Brighton FPL articles so far this season. But he went unmentioned in the Gameweek 26 piece, which instead tipped up Tariq Lamptey (£4.4 million) and Kaoru Mitoma (£6.4 million).

Two good picks, as it turned out. Lamptey recorded a clean sheet whilst Mitoma latched onto a second half touch from Pedro, raced through on goal and calmly stuck the ball past Aaron Ramsdale (£4.4 million) for the third Albion goal.

But back to Pedro, whose name appearing in the Brighton starting XI will have shocked a lot of FPL managers. Many have sold Pedro following a run of only one goal – and that being a penalty – from 13 league games.

From peak ownership of 2.4 million, Pedro is now in less than half that number of teams. The final straw will have come for a lot of managers when the Albion stuck three goals past Chelsea without needing Pedro. How was he going to get back into the Seagulls team after that?

However, Danny Welbeck (£5.5 million) missing the trip to St Mary’s through injury saw Pedro return to the starting line up. The Brazilian made the most of the opportunity. He opened the scoring with his only shot after running towards goal and dinking over Ramsdale.

459,000 managers who stuck with Pedro opted to bench the 12 points he delivered against Southampton. They now have a decision to make over where to reinstate him before the Tuesday deadline.

In the previous meeting between Brighton and Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, Pedro returned the same 12 point goal-assist combo as he managed at the weekend.

Yasin Ayari (£5.0 million)

Midfielder Ayari meanwhile officially set up a pair of big chances at Southampton but still came away without an attacking return.

He has created the second-most Brighton attempts (26) this season yet has none of the 34 assists put on the board by Seagulls players.

Throughout the whole league, only Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson (£5.9 million) has prepared more chances for teammates without actually registering an assist. Nobody has set up more big chances (six) without one, either.

Adding to this underachievement is that the Swedish international has accumulated 12 shots inside the penalty area but remains goalless.

So, not a single attacking return from 22 league appearances. At some point, Ayari will surely make amends by exploding onto the FPL scene with a mega haul.

Captaincy

Those who plan in advance will have always circled Cole Palmer (£11.1 million) to be this week’s captain with Chelsea home against last-placed Southampton.

Last season’s top FPL scorer sits second for 2024-25 but has registered no goals and just one assist in five matches. In a sign how reliant Chelsea are on Palmer, their form has dropped off a cliff at the same time as the forward.

Whilst Palmer deserves support to get back on track against the sorry Saints, it is also impossible to ignore Mohamed Salah (£13.7 million) when he is about to achieve the best-ever FPL season.

Nobody bettered Palmer’s 10 double-digit hauls in 2023-24 but Salah already has 16 of them by February. In fact, his 182 points in away games alone are more than anyone else’s overall tally.

The numbers are absoutely astonishing, Salah will be full of confidence after leading Liverpool to victory at Manchester City and he loves facing Gameweek 27 opponents Newcastle United.

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